Deep Thoughts

You can pick up one of those car freshener pine tree deals for a buck. I don't think the price has changed in over ten years (depending on where you are situated, geographically-speaking). It's less than a medium-sized coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Less than a soda. Half of what it costs to drive to Boston on the Mass Pike from Waltham. Seriously, it's pretty damn cheap. So, why on earth do people cut the top off and ever-so-gradually expose the felt-clad smelly cardboard to the atmosphere? Is it that precious a possession? I recognize that the instructions actually tell you to do it this way, and I think this is even more bizarre. Wouldn't the manufacturer want you to burn through those puppies at the speed of light? Wouldn't it mean that selling more fresheners, on a more frequent basis?

Imagine that you buy a stick of gum and take a tiny little piece of it into your mouth at a time. Wouldn't you look ridiculous? I mean, gum loses its punch pretty quickly. And so do the pine trees. But, jeez, they're only a buck! Is life this short, that we all have to conserve every little bit of smell emitted by these darned things?